Hymns of Adventure
by perfect oblivion
Summary: A year before starting his journey, Ash Ketchum rescues a gravely ill Meloetta. Accompanying Ash on his journey, Meloetta seeks a way back home, but Meloetta is still being hunted.


Chapter 1

She was afraid. She had been minding her own business, singing in her grove to pass the time like she always did, when she had been captured and imprisoned by a man who was shrouded in evil emotion. The time that followed had been pure torture, the man had wanted her to activate an ancient artifact that she safeguarded. He put her through much pain and abuse, but she refused to bend to that man's whims. In the wrong hands that artifact could destroy the world. She had no idea how much time had passed, nor did she know where she was, as her tormentor was always on the move. Finally, an opening had presented itself when her tormentor's flying machine was attacked. She had managed to escape in the confusion, and had fled as far and as fast as she could. Now she hid. Praying the man did not find her again.

She was lost. This land was foreign to her, it's climate different to that of her homeland's. Fierce, frigid winds clawed at her battered form as she huddled in her meager shelter. She was starving, but a foreign land meant foreign plants. She had no idea what was edible and what was poisonous. Again the wind raked at her with icy fingers, seeking to snatch her out of the little tree hollow she huddled in and cast her into the unforgiving elements. A storm was brewing, and it was fiercer than any she had weathered in her homeland.

She was alone. This land she was in had Pokémon she had only seen on exceedingly rare occasions, and many she had never seen at all. Likewise, she was something they had never seen before. In her homeland she was regarded with respect, but here she was nothing but an outsider. The locals held higher respect for the common Pokémon than her. She couldn't ask for help, none would come to her aid. She tried to sing, her melodies would touch the hearts and minds of Pokémon, thus allowing her to get help, but all she could produce in her current state were a few lilting notes that were easily snatched away by the howling winds. She had tried asking for help a few times earlier, but she had only been met with hostility in each attempt. She was afraid, lost, and alone, and all she could do was pray.

Nine year old Ash Ketchum looked out to the horizon beyond the little town of Pallet, watching as the storm rumbled and brewed over the evening sky. In his hands was a two foot long flute carved from the bone of a dragon, which gave a haunting resonance to the melody he played. Ash was amazing with music, always liking to bang his mother's pots, pans, and bowls to hear the sounds they made when he was little. He had received the flute as a gift from his father, and had learned to play it expertly within the year. Of course at the time, Ash had asked about his father, but his mother remained tight lipped about him. Of course, Gary Oak and his friends all laughed at him for his musical talent, telling him music would get him nowhere in the Pokémon world. Over the course of the year, Ash's self esteem had plummeted due to Gary's bullying, and although he still had the drive to go on an adventure with Pokémon, he was being chewed up inside by alot of self doubt. A crack of thunder sounded causing the lights in Ash's room to flicker. The thunder was soon followed by the storm unleashing it's torrential downpour. Ash watched the storm while playing his flute a little longer, before putting it away and flicking the lights off. Crawling into bed, Ash was soon lulled to sleep by the music of the thunderstorm.

0o0

The storm had raged for the entire night and following day, only coming to an end the morning after. She had not slept, her fear and the storm had not allowed her to despite her exhaustion. The freezing cold wind and rain had not done any good either. Due to this, she had become very ill. Also, a number of the wounds she was given by her tormentor were not healing right. Despite all this though, she left her little hollow and slowly floated off through the forest, staying on the move so that man would never find her again. Her sickness was getting to her though. She could feel the burning heat radiating from her skin, yet her insides felt like they were ice. She could barely see in front of her, her tired eyes perceiving everything around her as blending blurs of color. She couldn't hear anything going on around her, all sound just coming to her in a muted mumble. Her breathing was short and shallow, and was constantly being afflicted by painful hacking coughs. She couldn't render herself invisible, and she was losing the strength to levitate. If her tormentor found her, she would not even be able to hide, let alone defend herself. Despite this, she continued to push forward. Blearily, she moved through the forest, not knowing where she was going and not caring. Everything was starting to worsen, exhaustion racked her form, and it was getting even harder for her just to breathe. Despite this, she still continued forward. However, her strength chose that moment to give out. Losing levitation, she fell to the forest floor. Desperately she tried getting up, she even tried crawling, but she didn't have the strength to even twitch. She was so cold, yet she burned and hurt all over, and her body cried out for rest. Sleep, yes sleep sounded good. Maybe... Maybe just a few minutes.

0o0

Ash Ketchum stomped through the forest surrounding his hometown. He had had another run-in with Gary and his posse, and the remarks they had made, while cruel, were in fact true. He wanted to train Pokémon, yet he knew very little about Pokémon themselves. They had jeered at him, telling him that he was an idiot for not knowing what abilities and stat natures were. Ash had soon had enough and fled into the forest. In here, he wasn't under constant ridicule. In here, he could play his music and watch how the forest Pokémon sung and danced to it. He was broken from his thoughts when the sound of a soft thump sliced through the quiet air. Ash raised an eyebrow in curiosity, the noise was too quiet to be a falling branch, and no fruit grew in the area. His curiosity soon getting the better of him, Ash headed towards the source of the noise. Quietly moving through the verdant underbrush, he managed to find the source of the noise, and what he found shocked him. Sprawled on the ground was a Pokémon unlike any he had ever seen before. It was humanoid in appearance, with long mint green 'hair' that looked like a musical score, complete with a black G-clef 'clip' on the side of it's hair. It was small in stature, only about two feet tall. It's skin was pallid white, and it wore a black dress of sorts, a band of green the same shade as the Pokémon's hair decorated the stomach area. On its forehead was a circle, Ash was not sure if it was a gem or not, of rich turquoise. Ash was completely stunned by the mysterious Pokémon, but then he noticed the condition it was in. It's face was flushed, and it's breathing was rapid and slight. Numerous wounds littered it's body, a good number of them looked infected. Ash may not have known a lot about Pokémon, but even he could tell this Pokémon was very sick, and would die if not brought to help soon. Immediately taking action, Ash lifted the Pokémon into his arms as gently as he could, he didn't want to add to it's suffering. Immediately upon touching the Pokémon, Ash cringed, it was running a temperature that was in no way healthy for anything that wasn't a fire type. At the same time though, he felt the Pokémon shivering slightly, like it was cold. Once he got the Pokémon comfortably in his arms, he wasted no time and immediately started running as fast as he could without causing discomfort to the Pokémon in his arms to professor Oak's lab. It took Ash ten minutes of brisk walking to leave the forest, and soon the lab could be seen across town. Dashing through the town, Ash prayed he wouldn't run into Gary again. Luck was on his side though, because he made it to the lab without incident. Shifting the Pokémon in his arms a bit, he freed up a hand, then pushed the door open.

"Professor, are you here?" Ash called, but didn't hear a response. "Please, you have to come quick. It's an emergency." The area stayed silent, then Ash heard footsteps.

"Alright I'm coming, hold your Ponyta's." Soon the double doors leading into the lab itself swung open and out walked professor Oak. "So Ash, what seems to be the... Sweet mercy of Mew, child! What happened?" Exclaimed the professor when he saw the Pokémon cradled in the boy's arms. Ash quickly recounted how he found the Pokémon as they hurried to the medical wing of the lab. Professor Oak immediately told Ash to prepare a bed for the Pokémon while he dealt with treating the gravely ill Pokémon. A long stressful hour crawled by. Ash helped the professor in whatever way he could, usually fetching things the professor required. Finally, after a stressful trying hour, the Pokémon's wounds had been cleaned and dressed, and some medicine had been administered help with its illness. The professor then placed the Pokémon into the bed Ash had prepared beforehand. He then hung a clear bag full of clear liquid onto a small hook on the side of the headboard.

"What's in the bag professor, water?" asked Ash.

"No." replied Oak as he fished around in a drawer, "it's called antibiotics, Ash. While I may have cleaned the Pokémon's infected wounds for the most part, some of the infection still remains, so the antibiotics we'll be giving it will help it recover." Finding what he was looking for, the professor brought out a clear flexible tube. Screwing an end into the bottom of the bag of antibiotics, he then took the other end, which had a thin needle on it, and stuck the needle into the Pokémon's wrist. Then he bandaged the area so it stayed in place.

"That should do it. This Pokémon will fully recover given some time and rest. All we can do now is wait."

"Professor, what kind of Pokémon is that? I've never seen one like it before."

"To be quite honest Ash, I have no idea. I'm known to be the authority on Pokémon information, yet this one here has me baffled. It has to be a Pokémon from the regions outside of Kanto and Johto, else I would know more about it. I'll talk to some of my colleagues later to see if they have anything on this mystery Pokémon. Right now though, I have to get back to work." with that, Oak left the room, causing silence to blanket the two sole occupants.

"Get better soon." Ash told the Pokémon, and started to play his flute.

She awoke with a start. Everything was still smudges and blurs of color, but the colors looked different than last she remembered. She began to float a bit, then she became extremely dizzy, and once more fell into whatever she had been laying on before. Then she heard a voice. She was still too tired and sick to really make anything out, but despite it sounding garbled, she knew it was a human voice. She immediately got back in the air and flew away from the voice, alarm and panic running through her fevered mind. Had her tormentor found her again? She couldn't ponder further because two arms suddenly wrapped around her, keeping her in place. Desperately she tried to get out of them, but in the state she was in, it was just not possible. However, nothing was happening to her. She wasn't being placed in a cage and electrocuted, and she certainly wasn't being attacked by vicious Pokémon. She was coherent enough to start reading her current captor's emotional state, and what she found made her pause momentarily in her struggles. Concern, comfort, the emotions he was giving off were a complete opposite of her tormentor. Her struggles lessened, and the voice came again, telling her she was safe and okay, and nothing was going to hurt her. These words, combined with the emotions she was feeling from the person, convinced her that she was safe for the moment, and she ceased her struggles. Gently, she was placed back on what she had been sleeping on beforehand, and soon she fell into sleep once more.

0o0

Ash had stayed with the mysterious Pokémon until evening. He was immediately back the next morning, and again stayed with the Pokémon for the whole day. This routine was repeated again, and this time things got a bit interesting. Ash was playing his flute, when he heard movement. Looking over to the Pokémon, he was surprised when he saw it getting up and floating in the air. Almost immediately though it collapsed back on the bed.

"You shouldn't move, you're still recovering." Said Ash. This turned out to be the wrong thing to do when the Pokémon's turquoise eyes widened, and she tried to fly away.

Acting quickly, Ash grabbed the frightened Pokémon in a hug. The Pokémon then started fiercely struggling, but Ash knew it was still extremely weak due to the feebleness of her struggles. Ash just held it, showing the Pokémon that he meant no harm. It seemed to work, as its struggles lessened.

"See, it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you." Ash whispered to the panicked Pokémon, along with other words of reassurance. This seemed to do the trick as the Pokémon ceased struggling. Placing the Pokémon back into bed, Ash pulled the covers over it, and went back to standing vigil for the sick Pokémon.

0o0

She slowly woke up from her dreamless sleep. Her vision swam slightly, but soon cleared. She tried calling out, but it came out as a dry, quiet rasp. Looking around, she had no idea where she was, but the place didn't look threatening. If her tormentor had captured her again, she doubted she'd be in a place like this. Then the door opened, causing her to gasp in surprise and slight fear. A young human poked his head in, and his eyes widened when he saw that she was awake.

"Hey, you're awake, that's great news." Said the boy, and sat down beside her resting place. She then remembered just how parched she was, and let out another dry rasp. In response, the human gave a look of understanding, and grabbed something to the side. Pressing it to her mouth, she was surprised when water started filling her mouth. She started to drink greedily, but the water source was abruptly taken from her.

"You'll choke if you start drinking like that." The boy admonished her, and once again pressed the water source to her mouth. "Drink it more slowly." doing as she was told, and soon drank her fill. Once the boy put the now empty object back, she thanked him, her voice no longer raspy but still hoarse. She took the time to study the boy. He had messy black hair that was barely contained by a red and white hat. He had dark brown eyes, and wore a kind expression on his face, he wore a plain black shirt, and blue pants. Looking around some more, she didn't find anything of interest.

"So what's your name? Mine's Ash." She nodded, understanding.

"Meloetta."

"Meloetta huh. Can't say I've heard of a Pokémon named Meloetta, but the professor did say you were from a foreign region, so I shouldn't be surprised." After that, a comfortable silence filled the air.

"You were very sick you know." Ash said suddenly, "it kind of scared me to be honest. The professor said if I didn't find you and bring you here, you would have died." Meloetta was a bit shocked and frightened by that. She had been so sick she was dying? Her anxiety must have shown because soon she was wrapped in a comforting hug by Ash.

"You don't have to worry about it though. You're completely fine now. Sorry for scaring you." Soon Ash pulled away, and the two sat in silence.

"Do you like music?" Ash asked, and Meloetta excitedly nodded. Grinning, Ash pulled out a box beside her resting place. Opening it, he pulled out a long instrument that Meloetta recognized as a flute. Soon he began to play, and very well too, much to Meloetta's delight. She tried to sing alongside the music, but her voice was still too hoarse for it, so she hummed instead. Soon the room was filled with the melody the two wove. When it finally ended, the two were surprised by the sound of clapping.

"Well Ash, I can see you're getting along fine with our little guest." said a smirking professor Oak.

"Ah, professor! Uh, I was just going to get you. As you can see, Meloetta's awake."

"Indeed, so Meloetta is it's-" professor Oak was interrupted however, when he was beaned in the face by Meloetta's empty drinking cup. Said Pokémon was furiously yelling out syllables of her name, despite her hoarse voice.

"She, professor, not it. I have good reason to believe Meloetta is a girl." Said Ash.

"Indeed. Very well, so Meloetta is her name then?" At Ash's nod, the professor wrote some things down on a clipboard. "All right then Meloetta, since you're awake, all we have to do now is run a check up on you to see if you're healthy enough to leave." The check up went smoothly, with Ash reassuring Meloetta that the professor would not hurt her. Soon the professor had finished, and wrote a few final things on the clipboard.

"All right then, aside from a minor sore throat that will easily leave in a few days, she's completely healthy. I trust you'll put her back where you found her, Ash." With that, the professor left the room, leaving Ash and Meloetta to themselves.

"Well, it looks like you're free to leave. That's great news." Said Ash, and the two excitedly left the lab. Ash then remembered something.

"Oh man, I nearly forgot. Meloetta, we got to hide you do that jerk Gary doesn't find out about you." Meloetta didn't understand the reason, but she gathered that her being hidden was important, so she turned invisible to human eyes. Ash was shocked that Meloetta could do that.

"You can turn invisible? That's awesome, Meloetta." Said an astounded Ash. The two then continued to their destination. Fortunately, Gary was elsewhere, so Ash didn't need to worry about a confrontation. Soon the two were in the woods, and Ash stopped.

"Okay Meloetta, this is where I found you four days ago." That bit of news shocked Meloetta. She had been asleep for four days? "So this is where we say goodbye and go our separate ways." Meloetta was saddened by this piece of news. She realized that this was what the professor person meant when he said to put her back where Ash found her. Meloetta snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Ash walking away. This scared her, she was in a foreign land and had no idea how to survive in it. She realized suddenly that they must have thought she grew up in this land, otherwise they wouldn't just drop her in the middle of the woods like this.

"Mella!" Ash turned when he heard Meloetta call, and was suddenly hit by a flying hug from Meloetta.

"Meloetta, what is it?" Meloetta did her best trying to get Ash to understand what she wanted, and was eventually successful.

"You... want to stay with me, Meloetta?" Meloetta nodded, and Ash thought about it. "Well, I don't know. We could try I guess, but if mom says no, then you can't. But I'm sure we'll figure something out. Ok, come on Meloetta." And with that, Ash led Meloetta home.

0o0

A week had gone by since Meloetta had become part of the Ketchum family. When Ash had brought Meloetta home, his mother was immediately taken to the Pokémon, and she was allowed to stay. Ever since, Meloetta was always helping Delia around the house, or playing with Ash. Currently, Meloetta was cleaning Ash's room, when she accidentally managed to turn on the TV. At first the sudden noise and images scared her, but when she realized she wasn't under attack or anything like that, the TV fascinated her. Soon she figured out how to change the volume and channels, and then came upon something that interested her greatly. Meloetta had seen Pokémon battles before, it was impossible not to, but these battles were different. It wasn't about knocking out the other Pokémon so much as making the attacks extremely flashy. In all honesty, Meloetta loved it. She then heard voices coming from outside through the open window. Curious, she turned the TV off, and looked out the window, and gasped at what she saw. Just across the road was Ash getting bullied by Gary and his three friends. Meloetta had heard all about Gary from Ash, and seeing what was going on outside right now infuriated her. Rendering herself invisible, she flew out the window and stopped a little bit behind Gary's group.

"I can't believe you Ashy boy. You want to be a Pokémon master, yet you know practically nothing about being a trainer. Ha, you're nothing but a loser who'll get absolutely nowhere." Meloetta was beside herself with anger. These jerks were bullying Ash, the kindest person in the world, simply because he didn't know something? She had had enough, nobody messed with Ash on her watch. Taking a deep breath, she shrieked hard. Now this wasn't your usual ear splitter, oh no. Meloetta's voice could hit notes higher than what humans were capable of hearing, and this particular note she was screaming at the bullies had a nasty side effect on the body.

Ash had no idea what happened. One minute, Gary and his posse were laughing at him, and the next, a trio of tubas played, and suddenly they looked very embarrassed. Then the smell hit, and Ash started laughing.

"Th-this isn't funny Ketchum!" yelled Gary, his face red with embarrassment. "I don't know what you did, but mark my words you'll pay." With that, Gary and his friends waddled away to their respective homes, humiliated. Ash finally managed to calm down, and wondered how that had happened to Gary and his gang. Suddenly Meloetta appeared, and started looking Ash over for injuries.

"Meloetta? When were you here?" Then realization hit. "No way. You gave those jerks the brown note. Whoa, that was awesome." Giggling, Meloetta followed Ash home, the setting sun painting the house a golden orange. Soon, dinner was ready, and the two washed up and sat at the table. Ever since Meloetta became part of the family, the menu had taken a drastic turn. Meloetta for some weird reason, could not stomach Pokémon food. So she needed to be served the same food Ash and Delia ate. They then found out that Meloetta didn't like meat dishes, but she was a huge fan of vegetables. She could eat things like milk and cheese, but the only meat she'd eat was eggs and fish, and even they had to be really dressed up before she'd eat them. Therefore, dinners at the Ketchum house really started to go heavy on the vegetables, with meat being a minority. Ash didn't mind though, as anything his mother made was delicious. Soon, dinner was over with and Meloetta was helping Delia with the dishes. Ash was sitting down on his bed playing a melancholy tune on his flute, the words Gary had said to him ringing clear in his mind.

"Mella?" Though the voice was quiet, it still broke Ash from his thoughts. Ash looked the doorway and saw Meloetta, her turquoise eyes filled with concern.

"It's nothing Meloetta, no need to worry." Ash knew she didn't buy the lie for an instant, and still stared at Ash with those eyes. Sighing, Ash caved.

"I think those guys are right, Meloetta. I'm no good with all the stuff a trainer has to know. In fact, I don't even like battling. I wanted to be a trainer because that's what everyone else was going to be, and I didn't want to be picked on for me wanting to do differently. Yet I've come this far, to back out now would just be a complete waste. I just don't know what to do." Meloetta thought for a moment, then went over to the bookcase. Pulling out a book, she set it down on Ash's lap. The ultimate guide for the aspiring trainer was the title.

"Mella." She said, and Ash smiled, understanding what she meant.

"I get it Meloetta. Prove them wrong and study what I'm lacking. Still though, kind of hard to study for something you don't like." Meloetta thought about it some more, then an idea hit her. She turned on the TV, which was showing the same kind of battles she had been watching earlier. Ash was enthralled. This was something completely different to battling, yet still had the edge of competitiveness that he loved in a Pokémon battle. He never knew this kind of Pokémon training existed. Looking back at the book in his lap, Ash knew he had found his true calling. Ash Ketchum, Master Coordinator had a nice ring to it.

"Thank you, Meloetta."

"Mella." with that, Meloetta shut off the TV, and the two went to bed, both dreaming of what the future could hold.

0o0

**So what do you all think? Like it/Love it/Hate it? R&R Please.**


End file.
